Ligonier Tavern

My place mat @ Ligonier Tavern, 137 W Main St, Ligonier PA.

And, my last place mat at Ligonier Tavern, now under the glass at the bar.

Rotty Edgar Allan Poe

I sketched up a little Poe that I'm not sure yet how to finish. I could paint him in Painter for the anniversary of his death in October. Or, I have a birch board that is square and has been really hard to make a good composition on because of its squareness and, as it turns out, Edgar happens to be square...and his birthday isn't until January...Decisions, decisions.

Leo's Pub and Grille

My napkin @ Leo's Pub & Grille, 202 N Diamond St, Mount Pleasant PA.

Odosketch! My favorite new toy!

"Jeremy"

Dino's Sports Lounge

My napkin @ Dino's Sports Lounge, 214 Rt 30 E, Latrobe PA.

New Rotty Orangatang sketch

Here's the sketch for my latest painting in The Rots' Afrikan Beasties series (Working title. Don't get too caught up in it.). He's "Orangatang," but that title is up for grabs, too.

Sharky's Café

My napkin @ Sharky's Café, 3960 Rt 30, Latrobe PA.

Apple Store

Apple Store, 5508 Walnut St, Pittsburgh PA. (Yes, I'm shameless.)

Ligonier Tavern

My place mat @ Ligonier Tavern, 137 W Main St, Ligonier PA.

My new phone drawing!

Here's the first drawing I did on my new phone. Five seconds of work, tops.

Urban Saloon

My tablecloth @ Urban Saloon, 2120 Fairmount Ave, Philadelphia PA.

Elefant sketch

Finally got one.

After many (many) attempts, here's the preliminary sketch for "Elefant." Still not totally convinced he looks Rotty enough, but he's the best I seem to be able to do. I'll be painting him on wood like Jeeraffe and Zebrah.

So there you go.

Dracula sketch

Here's a sketch I did for a painting I'm hoping to start soon. The final size will be 24"x24", and finished in acrylic (and possibly oil) on wood.

I'm planning on doing a bunch of paintings of ghoulish types, each doing musical thingies. Looking for a name for the series (other than "Monster Mash").

I haven't forgotten about the elephant! The animal series has just been slower to climb to the top of the to-do list. It'll happen...eventually.

Red Robin

My napkin @ Red Robin, 1000 Greengate Centre Blvd, Greensburg, PA.

Barbie has a Mad Hatter doll?

Did you know that Mattel has released a Barbie Mad Hatter doll based on Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie?

My first reaction was that it felt a little creepy, but when you look at the face close up, the makeup is a little too perfect, if you know what I mean. Like they Barbie'd it up a little so they wouldn't scare the children.

The downside: it costs over $40.

Smokin' Joe's

My napkin @ Smokin' Joe's, 2001 E Carson St, Pittsburgh PA.

And so as not to embarrass those with me, the photo was shot behind closed doors.

iFrank, the color version

For those of you who aren't following The Rots on Facebook, here's the full-color version of iFrank. I painted him in Painter and finished him off in Photoshop. I originally finished him as a parody of the iPod commercials.

The background is manipulated from a photo I took of a wall at Harpers Ferry, WV. I took tons of texture photos (mostly walls) when we visited there a few years ago. They have a lot of old, old buildings that just beg you to take their picture. I use those textures often.

While we were there, I also Rotted the Secret Six Tavern. Not one of my better ones; I guess my mind was on getting back to those darn walls.

Mr. Picassohead!

Looks like today is the anniversary of the demise of Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, but better known to those of us without all day to say his name as Pablo Picasso. To celebrate (?), you can make your own Picasso on the Web site Mr. Picassohead. Very addictive...

Here's mine. He's called Bewildered Man.

iFrank

Here's a new Rots image with a take on the commercial for that really popular little white electronic device. I'm planning on doing a color version sometime in the near future.

If you want to download him and use him somewhere, he's yours! All I ask is that you give me credit with a link (http://www.the-rots.com/), and let me know where you've used him!

Coffee Bean Café

My napkin @ the Coffee Bean Café and Roastery, 3804 Rt 30, Latrobe, PA.

Stain Boy: My desktop inspiration

I just got my Stain Boy in the mail, and he's found a prime inspirational spot on my messy, messy desk.

Ruthie's Diner

My place mat @ Ruthie's Diner, Rt 30 E, Ligonier, PA.

Valentine design on chocolate packaging

In yet another Rotty design for Adventure Foods, here is a sticker I designed and illustrated for their Valentine chocolate packaging.

And this is an image of how the stickers actually look on their products (you can click on the image to see it larger).

I'm so proud!

Brady's Restaurant

My place mat @ Brady's Restaurant, Rt 31, Acme PA.

Sharky's Café

My napkin @ Sharky's Café, 3960 Rt 30, Latrobe PA.

The Rots win Zazzle Tops Today's Best Award

I just started a new shop on Zazzle the other day—with still a long way to go—but the very first design I added to the shop won an award from Zazzle!


I painted the image last fall just before El Dia de los Muertos. It's of Diego Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo and was inspired not only by the Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations, but also because where I work has a few Diego/Frida connections.

Brady's Restaurant

My place mat @ Brady's Restaurant, Rt 31, Acme PA.

Fraug used by Adventure Foods

I created a character called "Fraug" for my friends at Adventure Foods who used it on stickers for some Firefly Chocolates packaging. I originally created the firefly as part of their logo, and we thought it would be funky if we had Fraug eating him. They're so twisted, I'm thinking they were the ones who actually came up with the idea.

The stickers are only 2"x2" but they liked them so much they asked me to design a full-sized poster featuring the image. They decided they wanted to use Fraug as part of their marketing campaign geared toward their extensive kid's line of sweets.

The poster stands 23"x36" and they liked it so much they asked me to design a kid's menu/place mat for their restaurant, The Firefly Grill.

And it gets better. Fraug is available on a bunch of stuff for sale on CafePress!

First in clothing, there's

• the eco-friendly Organic Women's T-Shirt
• the equally eco-friendly Organic Toddler T-Shirt
• the similarly eco-friendly Organic Baby Bodysuit and
• the Kids Baseball Jersey.

Then in the ceramic line, there's

• the Framed Ceramic Tile and
• the Ceramic Travel Mug.

If you would like to see him on other products that aren't currently available, just let me know. I'm flexible.

Rots featured on chocolate marketing

A couple of friends of mine (yes, I have friends) run a chocolate business and just happen to be big supporters of The Rots. Their shop is called Firefly Chocolates, and their store is in the food court of Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg, if you're in the area.

They asked me to illustrate a sticker for their packages featuring a Rotty girl holding a jar of fireflies, and here's how she turned out.

I also do their graphic design work, including all their signage and the Web site linked to above.

Valentine Leftovers

Here's an extra Valentine doodle.
His name is Alen Valentine.

Download a free Rotty Valentine

Take your pick of two different valentines: "Be My Valentine" or a just friends "Happy Valentine's Day."

Clicking the images will only bring up low-res versions. If you want the real thing, you can download each as a hi-res pdf. Give it enough time to download; the pdfs are around 315KB each.

Be My Valentine hi-res pdf
Happy Valentine's Day hi-res pdf

A real-life creature from your nightmares

This cute little guy looks exactly like something that's begging to be a Rot.

I'm pretty sure his mother was a past winner of the World's Ugliest Dog Contest (an actual competition) and his dad was a bat, probably vampire. He's actually an "aye-aye lemur," and he probably just needs a hug and a family to love.

Newsletter subscriptions to The Rots Newsletter

I will be upgrading to a professional newsletter client prior to the next newsletter cycle, and I need current subscribers to re-submit their information. I don't have access to email information, so I'm not able to transfer from one mailing list to another.

And if you're not yet a subscriber, feel free to jump in at any time! Newsletters are scheduled quarterly throughout the year.

Vampires in the bathroom

I'm not sure why, but all my life I've seen images of faces in all sorts of things that didn't really have faces at all. Sometimes they're in shadows, sometimes they're in peanut butter, and sometimes they're in the bubbles on my shower curtain. (Those links go to my kid's illustration blog, by the way.)


Yesterday I had a vampire in my shower curtain. I suppose you could also see a Rorschach test, but if I had to take my shower curtain as a Rorschach test, I would see a vampire.

Boris the Clown & Wiggles

 
This little guy's name is Boris, and he's the freshest Rot in my sketchbook.

I drew him in response to a fellow illustrator who saw my kid's illustration portfolio and told me the pictures would probably scare the children (I guess I deserved that). To get in the right frame of mind, he told me, I should be thinking more along the lines of "clowns and birthday parties."

Clowns.

I've always found clowns to be disturbing. And now I find myself trying to draw them.

And they've all been pretty much disturbing.

The Museum of Modern Art

My napkin @ Cafe 2 @ the MoMA, 11 West 53 St, New York, NY, along with the image drawn on the wall that inspired the Rot.

Dock Street Brewery

My napkin @ Dock Street Brewery, 701 S 50th St, Philadelphia PA.

Diego & Frida

Been inspired lately by my place of work. Made a Rot of Diego Rivera and his lovely wife Frida Kahlo, in happier times, of course.

You gotta love the eyebrows.

Slightly Irreverently Twisted

New URL on Facebook: www.facebook.com/slightly.irreverently.twisted. It's all possible because The Rots got enough fans on their page to become eligible for a unique URL. Thanks to everybody who fanned them!

Rots photo album

I have that Rots© photo album up on Facebook now if you want to take a look. It's just a mixture of some of the stuff I've been working on the past few years. Take a look around, but what would be totally cool is if you would take the time to become a fan. If I can get 25 people who are willing to admit they like The Rots, I'll be able to get a cool URL for the page that would be easy to use and remember (not like the one that comes up right now).

And if that weren't enough, I've also been Twittering!

It's all good!

Ed Rendell

As some of you outside the Commonwealth may know, our governor signed a smoking ban into law (if that's the exact terminology) a year ago Sept. 11. As somebody who frequents those affected public areas I gotta tell you, it feels incredible to be able to breathe when you eat (or sit at the bar). I didn't realize how badly that shit smelled until we walked through a couple people puffing right outside the door on our last visit to Sharky's (Latrobe, PA). Only way to get to the parking lot was straight through.

Thank you, Ed!

My hair doesn't smell now when I get home.
My clothes don't reek.
My lungs and heart thank you deeply.

Ruthie's Diner

My place mat @ Ruthie's Diner, Rt 30 E, Ligonier, PA.

Facebook

The Rots© have a page on Facebook. Not sure yet where that will lead, but you can become a fan. I did. Actually, right now I'm the only one. Kinda hard to advertise being on Facebook when you don't really have anything to show on the page. Eventually I'll get some images on there. Looks like a tomorrow job...

9

I had been trying to find the short film 9 by Shane Acker* shortly after it was nominated for an Oscar, but was going the "download" route rather than just the "watch" one. I have to say, both the short and the feature versions of the movie are breathtakingly beautiful, and I only wish I had figured out what I wanted to do with my life a long, long time ago.

Of course, we went to catch the feature 9-9-09.

If you haven't seen the short, no excuses:



*For the record, the movie belongs to Shane Acker; Tim Burton produced, he did not direct.

Smokin' Joe's

My napkin @ Smokin' Joe's, 2001 E Carson St, Pittsburgh PA.

World Cafe Live

The back of my band ballet @ World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St, Philadelphia PA.

The Niner Diner

The back of my place mat @ The Niner Diner, 902 Chestnut St, Nanty Glo PA.

Ruthie's Diner

My place mat @ Ruthie's Diner, Rt 30 E, Ligonier, PA.

Newsletter

As many of you know, I've taken on a new "day job" as a tour guide at Fallingwater (the Frank Lloyd Wright house) which, also as many of you know, has taken up a lot of my time. So. I've skipped the Spring issue of The Rots newsletter and will attempt to pick up the next issue as scheduled.

On the positive side, the job's been good for me. It's certainly keeping me out of trouble.

The March of the Penguins

Take that, Marian Hossa!

Norwin High School

Thanks to Norwin High School for letting me invade their library!

My drawing tablet @ Norwin High School, 251 McMahon Dr, North Huntingdon PA.